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What a beautiful, tragic human tale Nadia Bongo tells! “Born a Ghost” follows a small ghost girl’s life from birth until her twelfth year. This story is a kind of ontology of the ghostly life across this period, a magical tale that hides reality under a thin layer of fiction.
It’s not difficult to read Bongo’s story as analogous to class and social conflict (in fact, I find it impossible not to); the ghost girl, a poor relations sent off to live with an uncle whose sickly daughter needs a companion, but disdained by a haughty outsider mother whose mistreatment of the child opens a rift that poisons the entire family unit.
The protagonist’s final plea, “to leave this house…Or maybe, maybe become a human” delivers a powerful emotional impact. This story is magical in its way, melancholy and riveting at once.
You should give it the time of day.
You can read this short story here.
The Grimoire Reliquary 